Strategic Design of Education for Bangladesh Volume 3, Issue 1 - Fall 1999 Lynn Ilon manages the Comparative and Global Education program and teaches graduate level courses in Global Education and Economic Development. She spent the better part of the summer working on a strategic sector plan for education in Bangladesh. This work was performed for the Asian Development Bank (through the Academy for Educational Development) and resulted in a US$1.2 billion plan for education quality and access upgrading for the country. Ilon, the education economist on an international team of 12, focused on defining an educational strategy which fits Bangladesh’s unique economic strengths and problems and its relationship to a global economy. The Main Educational Linkages. As Bangladesh enters the 21st century, it is pulled by three compelling economic forces: widespread, pervasive poverty, a small but growing participation in a global economy, and a still fragile local economy. Unarguably, education plays a major role in shaping the direction of all three forces. Education plays a major role in alleviating the worst effects of poverty. Nationwide, even modest exposure to education reduces poverty levels substantially. Education can transmit specific, targeted, useful tools for survival and improvements in quality of life. Fourteen percent of Bangladesh’s GDP is attributable to exports (up from six percent in 1980). The potential labor force must have at least minimal levels of education-enough to assure that they can function in a modern world. With so many millions of people to educate in such poor conditions, management and planning will play a critical role in education’s ability to meet tomorrow’s global economic challenges. Bangladesh is home to people living in three economies. Most residents exist in a land-based economy. Some residents exist in a capital-based economy. There is also a fledgling knowledge-based economy. A local economy must provide the goods, services, and infrastructure to support all three groups. Nearly a quarter of all adults in the country (aside from students) are self-employed. Another 20 percent work in cottage and small trade activities. Education can expand their academic skill base and open up opportunities for them. The Strategy. The first step in competing globally is to address the fundamental issue of poverty and to move informal labor into gradually expanding community and regional markets. Bangladesh should not target competition at high human resource levels as a realistic medium-term economic strategy. Recognizing that changes in government spending occur gradually over time, the target of educational spending ought to be threefold: (1) increase commitments to education as per capita income rises, (2) set the rates of growth of educational spending higher than the anticipated rate of growth of GNP, and (3) set realistic rates of change in growth rates and sustain them over a lengthy period of time. As a first priority, investments in primary education ought to be protected. As a second priority, expansion of basic education to classes 6-8 will enhance the ability of the education system to move away from a purely poverty focus to one geared toward small market growth. Instruction, structure and policies at the secondary level ought to be shifted toward mid-level labor. The third priority ought to be putting management, planning and policy development in place that can guide secondary education expansion into the next generation-a mixture of private demand tempered with public guidance. Bangladesh has, thus far, managed to sidestep the economic crisis befalling its neighbors. Assuming continued economic growth, it has the ability to expand its educational expenditures over the next ten years. Based on this economic analysis and the recommendation of the intentional team, a broad-based education plan was recommended which focused on continued expansion of access to primary school, upgrading the quality of primary education, expanding basic education an additional three years, and management changes which ought to improve the quality of secondary education. Return to the International and Comparative Studies in Education Homepage |
